


little things, for the heart

by nicolorenaldigenovia



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Baking bread, Bread, Completed, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, New Friendship, Post-Canon, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26744317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicolorenaldigenovia/pseuds/nicolorenaldigenovia
Summary: “Are you…baking bread?”Joe looks up at her then, and Nile snorts, walking over to the counter and reaching up to tug on the man’s stray curls, dark tight ringlets dusted with white flour.“Maybe,” Joe says, in a sing-song tone.***or Nile takes a lesson she learned from her mother and applies it to her new life.
Relationships: Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani
Comments: 7
Kudos: 150





	little things, for the heart

**Author's Note:**

> written for rai <3 - just something small for you. i hope you enjoy.

Nile learns many things in her new life, and at times it overwhelms.

And when it overwhelms, she remembers her mother’s advise: focus on the best and most amazing things.

“Things that make you smile. Little facts that will always warm your heart. Focus on that and you’ll be just fine,” her mother had said, and Nile has and continues to take it to heart.

Little facts, little things.

Not many little things have happened yet. Just big, ridiculous things. Falling off buildings, dying and coming back to life kind of things.

Then, one Tuesday morning after it all, she enters the kitchen in the Whiskey safe house and discovers the best, little thing.

“Are you…baking bread?”

Joe looks up at her then, and Nile snorts, walking over to the counter and reaching up to tug on the man’s stray curls, dark tight ringlets dusted with white flour.

“Maybe,” Joe says, in a sing-song tone that just makes Nile smile as she looks around the kitchen. There are ingredients everywhere, and Joe’s already wrist deep into a hefty, plump mound of dough. But it’s clear he’s just starting.

She hums then, and walks over to the sink, washing her hands up to the elbows. When Nile finishes, she walks over to the counter and stands beside Joe, who just grins at her, laughing softly.

“Joining me Nile?” he asks, and Nile smiles then.

“Please,” she whispers, laughing a little when he just moves the dough that he’s working on over to her, to start on a new batch. Immediately, she’s working her hands through it, careful but firm, glancing at Joe who is starting to hum softly as he dusts his new creation. He looks content, eyes crinkling in that way that men with kind hearts and easy smiles do.

Nile definitely likes this little fact, this little thing: Joe likes to bake and he looks very happy doing it.

She knows that it’s going to make her mother proud.

Joe looks at her then when he notices her staring, and tilts his head.

“Is there something on my face, Nile?” he asks, straight-faced, when he’s absolutely covered in the aforementioned flour and Nile just shakes her head, smiling

“No,” she says, looking back down at her dough, kneading it still. “I like this, though,” she admits, allowing herself to grin, just a little.

Joe laughs heartily beside her, and she doesn’t need to look up to know that the man has his head tilted back as he laughs, for she can feel him, sharing his happiness, whole body vibrating.

“It’s the little things Nile,” he says, after a beat. “No matter how long, no matter how old, it’ll always be the little things.”

Nile pauses for a moment, remembering her mother, and her words, and she thinks: yes.

She’ll be just fine.


End file.
